


In My House On The Hill (There Is Room For You Still)

by Mnemmy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Cats, F/M, Gore, Major Character Injury, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Sex, Unsafe Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:14:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mnemmy/pseuds/Mnemmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hurrying towards her classroom with her paranoia nipping at her heels, Jennifer tries to remember if she took her anxiety medication that morning. She gets to her class and closes the door behind her, resting her head against the glass and breathing a sigh of relief. Turning around to go to her desk she-</p><p>“Ah!” Jennifer screams. Derek stands there, wearing that blank face she always hated. The one that always gave her the impression he wasn't fazed by something because he'd seen worse. “Derek... What the everloving fuck are you doing here?”</p><p>---</p><p>What if Derek and Jennifer had known each other before Derek came back to Beacon hills?</p>
            </blockquote>





	In My House On The Hill (There Is Room For You Still)

**Author's Note:**

> So, around the beginning of 3A there was a theory that Jennifer and Derek knew each other previously. I took that idea and ran with it.
> 
> Mild descriptions of a panic attack take place after a character is attacked in her own home, if this is something that triggers you please be careful.
> 
> Title comes from the song [Beside You by Phildel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49vGlSyf05A).
> 
> Unbetaed, all mistakes are my own.
> 
> (If anybody is curious, my headcanon for the cat Kaboodle's appearance would be [this](http://i.imgur.com/rvGsdsP.jpg).)

 Jennifer is feeling harried. After almost getting attacked by two... people? Creatures? She isn't sure who or what they are, just that they tried to hurt her, and the man who saved her had stopped them. Had been one of them.

Hurrying towards her classroom with her paranoia nipping at her heels, Jennifer tries to remember if she took her anxiety medication that morning. She gets to her class and closes the door behind her, resting her head against the glass and breathing a sigh of relief. Turning around to go to her desk she-

“Ah!” Jennifer screams. Derek stands there, wearing that blank face she always hated. The one that always gave her the impression he wasn't fazed by something because he'd seen worse. “Derek... What the everloving fuck are you _doing_ here?”

“Checking up on you.” He says.

“Checking up on me? Really? You didn't seem to care much about my well-being when you broke up with me by _text_ not too long ago!” She hisses at him.

“I'm sorry about that, I am. There were extenuating circumstances that I can explain if you're willing to hear, but it wasn't fair to you.” Derek says, staring at the ground.

“Does.... does the explanation have anything to do with what happened last night? Those....” Jennifer waves one hand in the air, waiting for Derek to supply an answer.

“Werewolves. Out of control werewolves. Most of us aren't like that.” Derek says quietly.

“.... Werewolves. Right. Of course. All makes sense now, especially how I've seen you handle silver and we've been on romantic moonlit walks at your own suggestion and never had anything odd happen.” Jennifer argued.

“Silver doesn't affect us. It's a mistake. Based on a family with a name meaning silver that has been hunting us for... millennia. And once a werewolf learns to control themselves they don't usually lose it like that, but there were-”

“Let me guess,” Jennifer interrupts “'extenuating circumstances'?” At Derek's nod she takes a deep breath to organize her thoughts before speaking. “You are going to explain all of these circumstances later. Go to my apartment now, you should remember how to get there since you drove me last night when I was shaking too much. If you're anything like you were before you won't need keys to get in. While you wait for me to get home you can fix my kitchen sink, my shower drain, the broken closet door and any other home repairs you find. Don't even start with the puppy eyes at me, Derek Remelius Hale, get going!” She stomps her foot for emphasis, mildly surprised when Derek jumps and heads for the door, mumbling a 'Yes, Ms. Blake' as he leaves.

Sitting down at her desk, Jennifer takes a deep breath to settle her nerves before wondering what the _hell_ she was going to teach her students about _The Crucible_ that morning.

  
  


Entering her apartment after a long day, Jennifer was greeted by a sight she hadn't realized she missed: Derek, barefoot in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled divine while their cat sat on his shoulders.

“Kaboodle, you traitor.” She mutters, shrugging off her jacket and shoes.

“You say that now but you have no idea the trouble she gave me while I was fixing this crappy apartment. Hissing at me, lying down on the tools, using me as a perch when I bent over to check something.” Derek says, nuzzling his cheek into the smug looking cat.

“Yeah, well. I wasn't the only one you left behind.” Jennifer says quietly. Derek sobers immediately, looking down guiltily at the pasta he's stirring. Jennifer sighs and goes to set the table and wash her hands. After a dinner of marinated beef in cream sauce over penne she has Derek sit down on her couch and explain everything.

He tells her about werewolves, about the hunters, about how his first girlfriend died. He fills in the blanks in the shortened version he told her about Kate, and what she'd put him through. He tells her about coming with Laura to Beacon Hills, about how they'd been in town less than twenty four hours before she'd been killed, chopped in half, and used for bait. He tells her about that being the final straw, how he updated his will, drew a spiral on her grave and committed himself to a path of vengeance.

“Losing a pack member is... tangible. It's like a piece of you dies with them. Laura was the last piece of family I had, when I found her in that state... That was it. I didn't care anymore if I lived or died, as long as I took her killer with me. That's why I broke up with you in such a disrespectful way. I figured if you hated me, you wouldn't care if I came back or not.” Derek closes his eyes and tightens his fingers in Kaboodle's fur where the cat lies across his lap. “I didn't plan on coming back. I didn't plan on living past the death of whoever had killed her. Drawing a spiral on the grave or death site of a pack member is... Binding. It focuses you, gears your entire being towards that cause. It's a vow, an oath. To not rest until the one you lost has been avenged.”

“Did you?” Jennifer asks, nudging his knee with hers. “Did you avenge her?”

“Yes.” Derek breathes “I did. And I've been lost ever since.”

“Explain, please. Make me understand.” Jennifer says.

So he tells her. He tells Jennifer about being accused of murder, twice. He tells her about being threatened by hunters at a gas station. He tells her about nearly dieing, about crawling away, coughing up blood, and finding an honest to god hole in the ground to hide in until he was strong enough to go looking for Scott again. About finding out it had been Uncle Peter the whole time, how he'd let himself be lied to and used simply because he was so tired of being the last Hale, so desperate for family and pack. He talks about being caught and tortured and taunted by Kate. About how she brought Allison with her one time and degraded him in front of her niece. Treated him like a piece of meat, an educational toy, and told Allison using everything except words that she'd used Derek before.

He tells her about being compelled to kill his uncle. About how he'd wanted to let Scott have his cure, but the nagging doubt that it might not work, that an untrained beta could become an out of control alpha, and the pull of that damned spiral had him swiping his claws across his uncle's throat. He talks about the rush of power that followed and the urge to find Jennifer, to bite her, to make her like him, and how he couldn't do that, couldn't cause another person to be bitten against their will. For lack of a better idea or any kind of direction, he looked for people likely to take the bite. People who had nothing left to lose, with the exception of Jackson, who he bit to get him to shut up.

He talks about how everything spiraled out of control, how the kanima murdered an old swim team and a station full of deputies, how his own betas nearly tore him apart on their first full moon together. He talks about his uncle coming back, Allison's mother getting bitten and how he's woken from nightmares with the taste of blood on his tongue and bile in his throat at least once a week since. He tells her about Scott's betrayal, and the showdown with Gerard, and his betas running away because of how bad he is at all of this because he _can't_ care. He wants to and he tried, but everything in him is either scarred and burnt, or screaming at him not to get attached because they'll just die or leave too. And he tells her about the alpha pack, about Isaac nearly dieing, finding Boyd and Cora, a sister he'd thought was dead, about holding Erica's corpse in his arms and trying to function past the painful ripping sensation in his chest that he couldn't ignore or explain away anymore. He talks about the night at the school, how relieved he was to know that they had contained the moon-crazed werewolves until Scott heard a third heartbeat. Until Derek listened in and _recognized_ that heartbeat and knew he couldn't lose the one person he'd worked so hard to spare exposing this life to.

By the time he's finished his voice is rough and thick with tears, his face stained with wet tracks. Kaboodle is making distressed mewing sounds from his lap and Jennifer just wants so badly to wrap him in a blanket and take him far away from Beacon Hills. Instead, she brings him a glass of water and some tissues and uses the time to think.

“So, you never planned on telling me any of this?” She asks.

“Not unless Laura started building a larger pack. A pack of two has a lot of potential to become unstable. I just.... You were too good. You were too good to me, too important to me. I couldn't risk losing that, losing you if you got involved and became a casualty.” Derek said.

“Well, I'm involved now. I know what's going on and can make my own choices about my involvement from here on in, understand?” Jennifer asks. When Derek nods, she continues. “From what you've told me, two of my students are these alphas you're fighting against. I suspended one of them today for riding his motorcycle in the school halls.” She takes a moment to appreciate how his face slides from alarmed to dumbfounded shock before continuing. “If they aren't likely to know about my connection to you, I could serve as a way of keeping tabs on them for you.”

“That.... would actually be useful.” Derek admits. “But keep in mind that werewolves can hear heartbeats and tell when a person is lying. We can also recognize and track scents. As soon as I'm gone you'll probably have to bleach a lot of this place so that they can't smell anything on you.”

“Okay,” Jennifer nods “and if you need them detained from time to time, I could find ways of holding them after school for assignments or detention. It's not a guarantee, but it's an option.” As Derek nodded consideringly, Jennifer decided to take a chance. “When this is over, when the alpha pack is gone, I'll forgive you for keeping this whole part of yourself secret for the two and a half years we were together, _if_ you give therapy a shot.”

Derek startled at that before considering it and eventually agreeing. When he leaves a few hours later, insisting on walking in the heavy rain that had started in order to erase any scents he'd spread through the area otherwise, Jennifer starts the bleaching process. When it's done and a few windows are propped open enough to let fresh air in, she lays on her bed and tries to process everything that had happened. She can understand Derek's fears and worries, and his reluctance to involve her in this kind of stress given her anxiety issues, though she's still upset that he kept a whole part of himself from her for two and a half years. As she drifts to sleep, she wonders what kind of game fate is playing that means she'd moved to her former boyfriend's old hometown without ever knowing he'd lived here or come here before breaking up with her.

  
  


Over the next two days Jennifer keeps Derek updated via text as to the actions of the twins. She also calls her cousin Phil's old boyfriend Charles and pays him to set up a secure server for information storage that can be accessed and edited via her phone. She tells Derek how to gain access to it and watches as he fills it with information. Stories and legends he grew up with, verbal histories, a guide on how to use mountain ash to protect herself that also explains why she came home to a bag of black dust in her apartment.

About a week later there's a giant info dump and a note 'Stole Peter's laptop while Cora had him distracted. Enjoy.' Bestiaries, translations, images and animations for a whole slew of supernatural entities that Jennifer hadn't even heard of before. Rather than letting herself get caught up reading about things that weren't important at that moment, Jennifer focuses on learning everything about werewolves that she can. Remembering Derek's note taking habits from college, Jennifer types up an abridged version about everything she finds concerning alphas and their abilities, pack hierarchy, and any theories about how a pack of alphas would function. She also writes up behavioral changes she's noticed in her students. Isaac seems to be dealing with some bullying from the twins, which Jennifer does her best to catch and stop when she can without it being suspicious. Boyd is quiet and withdrawn, most likely dealing with incredible amounts of grief over what happened to Erica. Scott and Stiles behave like they are plotting at all times, and Allison and Lydia seem to be waiting for something.

For the next two weeks after posting those notes for Derek, she watches small changes happen. Isaac seems happier and healthier despite the bullying of the twins, like his home life has gotten better. Boyd begins emerging from his shell, mostly towards Isaac. The two boys now sit together in class and seem to have adopted a buddy system for dealing with the twins so they would never be caught alone. Derek usually picks both of them up from school. Jennifer overhears in the teacher's lounge that he and Isaac made a trip to the principle to report the bullying, explaining how the twins were trying to make it look like Isaac was the instigator. When the principle expressed his doubts, Derek invited him to keep close watch on Isaac and see for himself. Three days later the twins were caught in the act, Deucalion was called to the school and a lengthy meeting about zero-tolerance policies and inquiries about the boys' home life ensued. Both twins were banned from the track team until further notice.

Of course, the streak of positivity couldn't last. After those two weeks, as Jennifer is leaving the school the day the track team left for an away game, she's pondering the stressed expressions on the faces of Isaac, Boyd, Scott, and Allison when something thumps loudly against her car window. Turning, Jennifer has a moment to gape at Derek's pale, bloody face looming over her before he collapses next to her car.

  
  


After what is easily the most nerve-wracking drive of her life, Jennifer helps Derek up to her apartment, trying desperately not to drop him.

“What the _hell_ have you been eating, Derek? You were not this heavy before! Derek? Derek! Oh god, please don't be dead!” Jennifer says as she lowers him as close to gently as she can manage onto the bed. She rolls him on to his back and lifts the tattered remains of his shirt from his chest. The blood soaked pieces sticking and pulling at Derek's wounds. He groans and seems to wake slightly, asking in a groggy voice if she's okay and passing out before she can answer.

Wiping the blood from her shaking hands, Jennifer starts going through her bedside table drawer looking for her nail scissors so she can get that shirt off of Derek. The third time she drops the scissors she stops everything and takes a moment to do the breathing exercises her therapist insists will help her. She grabs the damned scissors and gets the shirt off of Derek before heading in search of her emergency kit and something to clean him with. She goes over what she knows about werewolves in her head and resolves to check her phone for more information on how to help them heal once Derek looks a bit less like roadkill.

By the time Derek wakes up, night has fallen, and Jennifer has managed to clean him up, apply a poultice made of the elderberries from her fridge, a few spices from her pantry, and the entire tube of neosporin from her bathroom cabinet to his wounds and rearrange him more comfortably on the bed. She has also had to chase Kaboodle off of him four times, damned cat keeps trying to lick the poultice off of him. Derek seems mildly surprised that his wounds are nearly closed as he slowly sits up.

“You need to keep resting.” Jennifer says “The wounds need a lot of energy to heal. According to the information that you gave me, it takes a lot to- you know. Just...” Jennifer hides her face in her hands. “That was terrifying, Derek. How did that even happen?”

“There was a fight last night between the alphas and my pack. I ended up taking a header off of a very high ledge and landed on an escalator.” Derek says. Jennifer presses the heels of her palms against her eyes and refrains from screaming. Or sobbing, either are tempting. “On the bright side, I'm pretty sure I took two of the alphas with me.”

“Which ones? No- wait! Don't tell me. I don't want my heartbeat to give anything away if someone mentions finding bodies or missing students.” Jennifer sits next to Derek, grabs a clean cloth from the pile on the nightstand, and dabs carefully at his nearly closed wounds. “I was so scared I'd lose you.” She whispers.

Derek catches her hands gently and leans in until their foreheads are pressed together. He breathes slowly and carefully until Jennifer matches her breathing to his. An old gesture he used to do whenever she'd stressed herself over exams or family drama.

“I'm sorry.” He whispers. “I'm sorry any of this is happening, I'm sorry you have to be exposed to so much violence and stress. I'm sorry I hurt you after you spent two and a half years making me so damned happy.”

“Don't.” Jennifer interrupts. “You aren't to blame, Derek. For everything except your tendency to act like an asshole and make impulse decisions you are _not_ at fault!There's a whole slew of other people who are responsible for the giant mess we're trying to deal with, and Gerard Argent is at the top of that list. Your uncle Peter is a close second though.” She says, earning a small chuckle from him. She cups his cheek gently in her palm, smiling when he presses in to the touch. He'd always been so tactile and affectionate with her. “If you're able to stand, a shower might do you some good.”

Jennifer ends up taking the shower with him. Helping him stand upright, helping him wash off the bloody streaks on his skin that she missed. She watches as the wounds close completely, brushes her fingers on the new, pink skin. She holds him close, clings tightly to him and tries to keep herself from focusing on how close he'd come to being dead. She gives him an old pair of sleep pants she'd stolen from him a year ago and watches the smile spread across his lips when he recognizes them. He puts them on and starts digging through the pockets of the jeans he'd been wearing. When he pulls out a very smashed looking phone and scowls she bites her lip to keep from smiling.

“Smartphones don't have super healing, honey.” She says.

“Yeah, and super healing doesn't let me tell my pack I'm not dead.” He replies.

“Is telling them necessary?” At his confused look she elaborates “It would be a unique advantage. There are a lot of characters in literature who have made good use of a fake death. Gandalf is probably your favorite, but there are others.” Derek snorts softly and shakes his head.

“Under another set of circumstances, maybe. But Isaac and Boyd are starting to trust me and open up to me, I don't want to damage that by faking dead right now. I just... I need to let them know I'm okay.” He says.

“Alright, use my cell. I had the number switched to a private one so it won't show in their caller id.” Jennifer says.

Derek makes the call to Isaac, reassures both him and Boyd that Derek's alive. Jennifer listens in as he tells them he crawled away to find help from a friend who would rather remain anonymous because they don't want alphas showing up at their door and only regained consciousness a short while ago. When he learns that Scott had been having trouble healing he asks to speak to the boy and reassures him that it wasn't his fault, that Derek's fine now, and tells the boys to get a good night's rest and enjoy being away from the alpha pack for a bit. He then calls his sister Cora and lets her know as well, but insists she not tell Peter if she can avoid it. He also seems to gain verification about at least one dead alpha from her

By the time Derek lies down on Jennifer's bed it's very late and Jennifer's already made up her mind to call in sick tomorrow. She spoons up behind Derek, loops her arm over his waist and tangles her fingers together with his in Kaboodle's fur where she's snuggled against his belly. She nuzzles the nape of his neck and hears him mumble a sleepy 'missed you' before he starts snoring softly. She smiles into his back and curls her fingers tighter in his before drifting off.

  
  


When she wakes the next morning the sun is peeking through the blinds, throwing bands of light across the bed. Kaboodle's gone from the room, Jennifer can hear the distant crunching sound of her eating in the kitchen. Derek's slowly waking up next to her, turns to lie on his back, one leg propped up in an attempt to hide his morning wood. She runs one finger along the edge of his sleep pants, watches his stomach jump, the outline of his cock twitching.

“Mmmh,” He groans “Don't tease, Jen. Please.”

“I'm not teasing.” She whispers. Jennifer brings Derek's hand to her mouth and starts licking his palm. She laves his fingers with spit before pulling back and nudging his hand southward. He takes the hint and slips his hand in his pants and grips himself. Jennifer pulls at the side of his pants until he lifts his hips so she can pull them down to mid-thigh. Once he's resettled and started stroking himself she grabs two tissues to place under the head on his cock and curls back into his side. She buries her face in his neck and starts nibbling and sucking on the skin, remembering how much he'd liked that. She can hear the tempo of his strokes speed up as his breathing quickens, can feel his arm moving against her and knows he's close.

“When you're done, I'm really hoping I can sit on your face for a while. Remember that, Derek?” She whispers into his ear. “Remember how much you love eating me out until I'm shaky and begging for more? Remember all the times you hid under my desk, licking at me while that horrible roommate of mine was in the room? And I'd lock my legs around your head and squeeze when I came?”

Derek's hips jerk, he squeezes the head of his cock as he comes all over the tissues and moans. He relaxes against the pillows and Jennifer sneaks one hand down to cup and gently squeeze his balls, drawing bitten off moans from him as he turns and nuzzles the side of her neck. When oversensitivity has him hissing slightly she stops, moves her hand to his hip and takes her face away from his neck. She presses small, soft kisses across his nose, his closed lids, follows the line of his cheek down until she gets to his scruffy chin and bites gently, making him smile.

“Always such a biter.” He murmurs.

“Never heard any complaints from you.” She said, gathering the tissues and tossing them in the trash.

“Mm-hm. Because I like it.” He says, shifting to face her. “Almost as much as I like tasting you.” And with that Jennifer is being pulled up to straddle his face. Through the thin cotton of her panties she can feel him press his nose to her. His pleased hum when he sees how damp the fabric is, knows how wet she must be. He breathes warm air over her pussy and makes her shiver. A light rasp of teeth over her mound follows and has her bucking her hips in an effort to get more.

“Now who's the tease?” She mutters before he moves the thin scrap of cloth to one side with his thumb and buries the tip of his nose between her folds, bringing it up and just under her clit before pulling back and following the path with his tongue. As he finally gets to work licking and sucking at her folds Jennifer brings one hand to the head of the bed and uses the other to grab hold of Derek's hair. She cants her hips until he gets the idea and starts fucking her wet pussy with his tongue. She rides his face until he uses one hand to hold her hips still while he slides two fingers inside her and presses on that wonderful bundle of nerves that has her gasping. She clenches around his fingers and moans when he wraps his lips around her clit and sucks, his tongue darting underneath to add more stimulation. She breathes his name when she comes, grinding down against his face until her toes stop curling.

Pulling back to sit lightly on his chest, she looks down and sees his glazed expression, his wide smile, and his mouth and chin _coated_ in her juices. Shuffling down further until she's straddling his hips, she leans down and kisses him deeply. Lets him push her own taste into her mouth and then goes hunting for more by licking his face in between kisses. Just as things are taking a turn towards round two, a loud crash from the kitchen signals Kaboodle's dissatisfaction with a now empty food dish. They both sigh as they break apart.

“Damned cat.” Derek mutters.

“Don't even start, you're the one who brought her home and made puppy eyes until I said she could stay.” Jennifer says. “Besides, we do need to get out of bed at some point. I need to call in sick today, and it would be a good idea to talk about likely repercussions for the fight that happened.” Derek groans as Jennifer pulls away and gets off the bed. “And we should probably have a talk about 'us'. Neither of us like it when things are ambiguous, so it would be a good idea to figure out where we're going, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Derek says “And some food would be nice, too.” He gets off the bed and heads for the kitchen and Kaboodle, pulling up his pants as he goes. As Jennifer slips on a new pair of panties she feels the slight burn left from his stubble and wonders how difficult it will be to hold a conversation with Derek when half her brain will be focused on the pleasant tingling between her legs.

  
  


Jennifer calls the school and fakes food poisoning while Derek makes breakfast. After a full meal, some dish washing, and a quick fuck on the kitchen counter to clear their minds they sat on the couch to hash out their relationship.

“I still... I know it's been almost a year, but I still love you.” Jennifer says “I hate the way you broke up with me, but I know now that that's what you were aiming for. And I may not like it, I _don't_ like it, but I can understand your reasoning behind it. But Derek, knowing about this part of your life doesn't change anything for me. I still want to be with you.”

“Laura and I came back because I told her.” Derek admits quietly “I told her... everything. I told her about Kate and I told her how much I love you and I told her about all the times I found myself looking at rings and wondering if you'd like them. I told her all of that and I said that she needed to do something to stabilize our pack because I wanted to marry you. To make you a part of our pack and start a family. And she said we needed to put our ghosts to rest first. So she looked in to the fire, found some things, and we came here to get enough evidence together to bring to the police.”

“And then everything went to shit.” Jennifer says. Derek nods ruefully and Jennifer takes a moment to think things through before speaking again. “Because I'm acting as an informant for you, it's not exactly a good idea to go on dates or anything. But when this is over, I'd like to see if we can pick up where we left off, is that something you want as well?” Derek gently laced their fingers together before meeting her eyes.

“I do.” He says softly.

“I- good.” Jennifer says, as her heart thunders in her chest and a blush heats her cheeks. “Um, so. The fight that happened. You say you took out one or two alphas, right? What kind of backlash can be expected from this?”

“They'll probably try to attack again, maybe try and force me to kill one of my betas.” Derek says.

“Do they know where you live?” Jennifer asks.

“Yes. The day after the full moon they dropped by my loft while I was here fixing things. Cora and Boyd had to run for it, they hid in an empty apartment a few blocks away. I had Cora and Isaac pack emergency bags after that, just in case.” Derek says.

“Okay, maybe call Cora and tell her to pack up. By the time Isaac gets back from the track meet you could have a new hiding place set up. And make them leave anything with GPS behind, just in case the alphas decide to use that to track you.” Jennifer suggests.

“Good idea, give me a few minutes.” Derek says. He kisses the top of her head as he stands and moves back to the bedroom in search of Jennifer's phone. While he looks, Jennifer grabs a pen and scratch pad from her coffee table and starts making notes.

When Derek comes back he has news from Cora, the alphas had marked his window.

“It's a sign that they intend to attack, tonight.” He explains.

“Well you can't handle a fight right now, even if Isaac and Boyd weren't on an overnight trip, so I hope you told Cora to get the hell out of there.” Jennifer says.

“I did. She's already packing up. I told her to ditch all phones as well as anything with GPS. Not entirely sure where we're going to stay, but I'll figure something out.” Derek says.

“While you were on the phone I had an idea. You remember that horrible perfume Laura bought me one Christmas? You always said it burnt out your nose and made it impossible to smell anything.” Jennifer says.

“Yeah, it deadened my sense of smell pretty dramatically. Laura was such a little shit, giving that to you.” Derek says, fondly.

“Are there any other strong smelling things that make it difficult for werewolves to scent things properly?” Jennifer asks.

“Peppermint, mace, cayenne if it's fresh.” Derek says.

“Okay. And do you remember that creepy assistant coach from my softball team?” Jennifer prompts.

“The one you and the other girls were sure was jerking off when you were all getting changed? So you cooked up some stink bombs and had me plant them while a game was goin- oh! Stink bombs!” Derek says, a look of comprehension on his face. It's soon replaced with an evil grin and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, a look Laura often called his 'evil little brother face'.

“You guys prepare everything and get out during the day, leaving behind all GPS. Isaac and Boyd come back from the track meet and leave their phones at the loft. Pick up some of those cheap motion sensors from the hardware store, the kind they use for patio lights. We can rig everything so that when the alphas walk in they set off a couple of different stink bombs and explode some mace canisters and they won't be able to track you guys anywhere after since their noses will all be dead and their eyes will be full of mace.” Jennifer says, pleased with herself.

“We could also set up the sound system I have in there. Have it go off at full volume with a pitch only werewolves can hear. And if we mix just a bit of wolfsbane in the exploding mace canisters it'll weaken them. Might grant us a reprieve since they'll need to go lick their wounds for a bit, though I don't actually know where we'd get any.” Derek suggests.

“I have a mace canister in my purse, and another one in my bedroom.” Jennifer says. At Derek's raised eyebrow she explains, “I almost got eaten by werewolves a few weeks ago, and there are a few mean ones in town that don't need the full moon to attack me. I figured stocking up on mace would be a good idea. And it was, we now have enough mace for a couple of good sized blasts. If you think you can sneak out and get anything we're missing, I can get started here with what we've already got.”

It takes most of the day, but by the time Isaac and Boyd text to say they're back in Beacon Hills and heading to the loft, Jennifer and Derek have rigged two heating sources for the mace canisters, cobbled together a few stink bombs and planned out how Derek can rig his sound system at the loft. Derek carts everything away and Jennifer starts in on grading in order to distract herself enough so she won't spend the whole evening worrying. Around nightfall she checks the secure server to see if there's anything she can do to arm herself against attackers in case the alphas figure out her connection to Derek. There are two new files, a small text document from Derek with the number of a burner phone, and a video file titled 'we were in the building across the street'.

Pressing play, Jennifer watches the screen zoom in on the wide windows that must belong to Derek's loft. She's just able to see when the alphas enter the loft. A large bald man and a predatory looking woman enter and begin scanning the area. Suddenly both stop and clap their hands over their ears, doubling over. A voice she recognizes as Boyd's whispers “Damn, that's a horrible pitch. I'll be surprised if their ears don't bleed.”, and the screen shakes a bit as though the person recording had suppressed a flinch. It takes only a few more seconds for twin explosions to go off, spreading mace through the air and covering the alphas. Pained screams and roars are accompanied by stifled laughter, and Jennifer hears a young female voice hiss a vindictive “Yes!” before the video cuts off.

  
  


Over the next two weeks things are mostly quiet. The twins never showed up in school, and eventually their bodies were found in the woods, torn up and broken with carrion eaters already chewing on them. Derek left notes for her on the secure server about how his pack was faring with the change in location. He'd picked something so difficult to get to that Isaac and Boyd were worried about keeping up with their classes. Jennifer responded by assigning in-class work instead of take-home assignments and encouraged her fellow teachers to do the same by telling them about how much grading she was able to catch up on. She kept careful watch on how tired they, as well as Scott, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison seemed to be and adjusted her lesson plans accordingly.

Scott and Stiles mainly seem preoccupied with Allison and Lydia. Lydia and Danny dealt with the news of the twins' deaths in their own ways, Lydia with regal stoicism and Danny with quiet grief. Jennifer wanted to feel bad about these teens having to mourn their classmates, but she'd learned enough from the bestiaries and Derek's own wounds to know that she would rather have the twins dead than take a chance on them killing again.

Jennifer arrives home late on a Thursday, hauling her large bag of papers through the doorway of her dark apartment. She goes to deposit the heavy sack near the entranceway and freezes. The sleep pants Derek had used two weeks ago were on the floor in the middle of the hallway. Normally if laundry was left out, especially Derek's, Kaboodle would be sleeping on it. But Kaboodle was nowhere to be seen, meaning she wasn't the one responsible for moving Derek's clothes from the bag Jennifer hadn't been able to launder yet.

Inching forward and peering into the darkness of her living room, Jennifer can see a pair of glowing red eyes, and a low growl starts up. As the alpha starts to lunge, Jennifer swings her rucksack full of papers at her, catching the woman in the stomach just hard enough to wind her. Jennifer flees towards the kitchen, knowing she'd never reach the bedroom in time to grab her new mace canister. She moves behind the breakfast bar and grabs the cast iron skillet she'd left to soak in the sink the night before. She brandishes it at the alpha, moving to keep the breakfast bar between them for as long as possible. The alpha grins, baring her wickedly pointed teeth and laughs.

“So this is Derek's little whore.” She taunts as she paces around one side of the counter, Jennifer moving in the opposite direction to maintain distance. “We knew he had someone helping him, guess it's nice to see he isn't hiding behind yet another teenager. Tell me, do you actually know what's going on, what he is, or does he just drop by to give you a good fucking now and then?”

“I know a lot more about him than you think.” Jennifer says. She's stalling for time, knows that the alphas knows what Jennifer's doing, but she needs time, she needs to think. Her heart is hammering in her chest and the alpha's cruel smile widens as small spots dance in front of Jennifer's eyes. She can't afford to start panicking and tries to remember to breathe.

“Is that so?” The alpha says, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. “Go on then, impress me. Share your knowledge with the class.” She sneers.

“Sorry, I'm not as dumb as you look.” Jennifer snarks, panting slightly. The alpha's face slides quickly from shock to anger.

Before the alpha can do anything other than open her mouth, Kaboodle strikes. Running into the room and climbing up the alpha's leg and clinging to the middle of her back where the alpha can't reach her. It's a move Kaboodle's pulled a hundred times on Derek when she feels like being a little shit, and it's the best opening Jennifer's going to get. Jennifer swings the skillet as hard as she can, hitting the alpha in the side of her face.

The alpha is knocked over, she's holding tightly onto the breakfast bar as blood pours down her face and neck. Jennifer waits just long enough for Kaboodle to disentangle herself before bringing the edge of the skillet down hard on the alpha's head. The skull caves in with a muffled crack and a sick squelching sound, blood splattering all over Jennifer's arms and the breakfast bar. The body falls to the floor and Jennifer relaxes her grip on the skillet, letting it clatter onto the stained formica. Jennifer's legs fold under her and she falls to the floor, her chest heaving with panic. She fumbles her phone out of her coat pocket and it takes her entirely too long to text Derek to come over immediately. She curls up, wrapping her arms around her legs and just tries to breathe.

She doesn't know how long she sits there, but eventually light pours into the apartment from the hallway when Derek opens the front door. He rushes to her side, immediately sinking onto his knees and resting his hands on top of hers. He murmurs soothing words and helps Jennifer count her breaths until she's able to uncurl from her position. He gets her into the shower and helps her scrub herself clean, helps her dry off and dress for bed. He roots through her medicine cabinet until he finds the small bottle of low dose sedatives her therapist had prescribed for emergencies. Jennifer shakes her head when he offers her the bottle, she's still deeply shaken but she doesn't want to medicate herself. Not when there's still two other alphas in Beacon Hills, not when one of them was able to get into her home.

Derek tucks her into bed, turns the lights off and leaves the room. She can hear him moving about the apartment, cleaning things up, getting rid of a dead body. The fact that Jennifer had killed someone is sinking in and tears are starting to leak out the corners or her eyes as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She hears Derek softly tell her that he'll be back soon, hears him leave. She tells herself it was self defense, reminds herself of what the alpha had to have done to her own pack to have gotten into this situation in the first place. She still feels shaky and she's still crying, but the low burn of guilt doesn't get any worse.

She doesn't remember closing her eyes, doesn't remember falling asleep, but in the early morning she wakes up on her side, up curled against Derek's chest with his arms around her. Kaboodle is sleeping on the footboard of her bed, Jennifer can see her tiny body moving with each breath. Relief floods through her before she realizes she forgot to check on their cat after everything that happened yesterday.

“Hey.” Derek's soft voice startles Jennifer out of her thoughts. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” Jennifer whispers.

“You started smelling sad and your heart was doing that thing it does when you feel guilty about something.” Derek says.

“I forgot Kaboodle.” Jennifer whispers. “She risked her life to help me and I forgot to make sure she was okay.”

“Kaboodle helped you take down Kali?” Derek asks. Jennifer tells him what happened the night before, how Kaboodle had distracted the alpha long enough for Jennifer to act. Derek's smiling at the end of the story, kisses Jennifer's forehead and says “Guess I have a reason to be proud of both of my girls, then.”

“Proud? Derek I was shaking and panicking the whole time!” Jennifer protests.

“And you worked through it until the immediate danger was passed.” Derek says. “Jennifer, you faced off against someone who wanted to hurt you, wanted to kill you. I'd be worried if you _weren't_ scared in a situation like that.” He rests his forehead against hers and breathes deeply for a moment. “These alphas scare the crap out of me, Jen. I'm terrified of losing you or another of my pack to them. The fact remains that you stood up to one of them, when they came in to your home and attacked you, and you won. And as scared as I am of what happened, I feel proud that you did that. I'm proud that you kept it together in a terrifying situation long enough to survive, long enough to fight back. Long enough to call for help when you had the chance.” He kisses her, holds her tight and she relaxes against him.

A shiver runs down Jennifer's spine as she deepens the kiss, licking into Derek's mouth greedily. She urges Derek on top of her, she needs to feel him, feel his weight holding her down. He breaks the kiss and looks Jennifer in the eye, “Are you-”

“I'm sure. Need this. Need you, Derek.” She pants. Derek pauses long enough to pull his shirt over his head before capturing her lips once more. Jennifer runs her hands up his back as he grinds his hips into hers. She uses the pads of her fingers to dig into his shoulders before raking her fingers down his back, relishing the way Derek arches against her and gasps. His hands push her shirt up enough for him to pull at her panties. She helps him work the thin scrap of fabric down and off her legs, helps him pull his pants down enough to free his thickening member.

Jennifer wraps her fingers around his cock and jerks him to full hardness before guiding his tip to her entrance. He pushes in slowly until he's fully seated, then works his arms under Jennifer's body, one hand cupping her head as he holds her close and gently rolls his hips. Jennifer wraps her legs around his waist and meets his thrusts as best she can, keeping one hand on his back and the other on the nape of his neck.

It's slow and intense and everything Jennifer needs right now. Derek takes his time, never stopping the roll of his hips as he peppers her face and neck with kisses, as he licks over her jugular, as he scrapes her earlobe with his teeth before going back to her mouth and kissing her deeply. When she feels her orgasm starting to build she holds on tighter to him, uses her legs to pull him in closer to her. He takes the hint and grinds deep, rutting slightly to put pressure on her clit. She wraps herself around him, clings to him as they rock together and bites down on his shoulder when she comes. She hears him gasp and his hips jerk as he works through his own orgasm.

He pulls out carefully and gently lowers her back down to the mattress before settling on top of her, head tucked up under her chin. Jennifer rubs her hands over his back and lets his steady breathing lull her back to sleep.

  
  


Just a few short hours later, Jennifer's alarm wakes them. She can't quite stop herself from pouting at the idea of going in to work that day. Derek disentangles himself enough to shut off the alarm before sitting back on his heels. Jennifer snorts when she looks down and sees that his pants are still pulled down to mid-thigh.

In the shower Jennifer asks Derek how long it would likely take for the remaining alphas to know that one of their own was missing.

“Not long.” He says, running a loofah down her back. “They're probably already suspicious.” He rests his forehead against Jennifer's and sighs. “I know you've just had a really stressful night, but it would be a bad idea to call in sick this time. They might not connect you taking a day off when the twins disappeared, but if you took another day off just when Kali disappears...”

“They'll be highly suspicious and I'll have more people sneaking in to my home and trying to take a swipe at me.” Jennifer finished. She couldn't help the disappointment she felt, but she knew Derek was right, now was not the time to take risks.

“Hey,” Derek says, nuzzling her gently, “if we're careful, maybe you can sneak off tonight and we can share a dance.” Jennifer has a moment of confusion before realizing what he's talking about.

“Oh my god, the homecoming dance! I completely forgot I signed up to chaperone it!” She says, thumping her head against Derek's shoulder.

“So did Mrs. McCall. Scott's received a few threats against her so my pack will be attending, just in case.” Derek says.

“And you? Did you sign up to chaperone as well?” Jennifer asks, amused at the idea of Derek chaperoning.

“Oh, hell no.” Derek says, smiling. “I'll be running patrols in the hallways and calling for backup if I need to.” He kisses her forehead and Jennifer lets herself look forward to dancing with him that night.

  
  


The day passes quickly enough, most of her classes were filled with quizzes and in-class work for assignments due Monday. After school she buys herself dinner and changes in to the dress and shoes she'd brought with her that morning for the dance. She took the time this morning to line her apartment with the mountain ash Derek had brought her to keep unwanted intruders out, but she still wasn't ready to walk in to her apartment alone after what had happened the night before. So she changes in the washroom at school and assists the other teachers and volunteers in finishing the final preparations to the gymnasium.

Chaperoning is incredibly boring for the most part. Jennifer learns early on to stick next to Melissa McCall so she could have a conversation partner, and feel like she was helping Derek and his pack in some way. By eight o'clock Jennifer is feeling exhausted, cranky, and in dire need of some more comfortable shoes.

Jennifer's been periodically taking a head count of Derek's pack, as well as Scott's. At around nine she comes up short, Isaac's missing. She spots Cora and Boyd sneaking out as well, and excuses herself from the conversation with Melissa by encouraging her to ask the Sheriff for a dance. Stepping out into the hallway, Jennifer removes her heels in case she needs to be stealthy, or if she needs to run for it. Padding around the corridor, she slows when she hears pained grunts and hissing from the boy's locker room.

Jennifer takes a calming breath before sneaking in to Finstock's office to grab the metal bat she knows he keeps by his desk. She pauses at the doorway that leads from the office to the locker room and listens. She can hear tiles breaking and low growls that taper off into high pitched whines. She carefully opens the door, sticks close to the wall until she can slip into the shadows under the windows of the room. She pads forward until she sees a large grey.... monster. A monster is throwing Derek on the floor, flipping Derek onto his back and stepping on his chest.

A quick look around shows Jennifer that Isaac is slumped against one wall, half conscious and clutching his stomach where his shirt is stained red. Cora and Boyd are both pinned by the large bald alpha Jennifer recognizes from the macing video. Ennis, Derek had called him Ennis. Meaning the grey monster was Deucalion.

“So weak.” Deucalion taunts. “So pathetic. How disappointing it is to find you don't have a fraction of your mother's talent. She must not have seen much potential in you if she didn't bother teaching you anything. There's so much you don't know, Derek. So much about being an alpha you haven't learned, so much you'll never learn, now.” He chuckles darkly. “Why, I imagine there isn't a single thing you could tell me that I don't already know.”

Derek coughs, blood flecking his lips. He coughs again, and again, and soon the coughing turns to laughter. Derek is laughing at Deucalion. “Actually,” he says, chuckling “I do know one thing. Jennifer got her degree thanks to a softball scholarship.”

Knowing these few seconds of confused silence were the only opening she'd get, Jennifer steps from the shadows and swings the bat with all her might. It connects with the base of Deucalion's skull, just where it meets his neck. Deucalion's head gets knocked forward, and all his muscles seem to loosen, the strength running out of them momentarily. Derek seizes the opportunity of a stunned Deucalion and grabs the man's ankles, pulling them out from under him. Deucalion falls, his head hitting the ground and bouncing as Derek clambers on top and sinks his teeth into the alpha's throat. Jennifer hears a wet squelching sound and blood begins to pour out on to the floor.

A low growl has Jennifer turning to where Ennis has abandoned Cora and Boyd and is now rushing towards her. She takes a step back, trying to get the bat in position for another swing when Derek rises up and spits right at Ennis. A spray of Deucalion's blood gets in Ennis's eyes and Jennifer can see a chunk of Deucalion's throat bounce off of Ennis's face. Ennis stumbles in shock, giving Jennifer enough time to swing again, this time connecting with Ennis' jaw. The lower half of the man's face goes flying across the room, blood gushing out of the open wound. Jagged pieces of skin hang from the edges and Ennis's tongue flops about uselessly as his eyes widen in horror and fear. Derek steps forwards and swipes his claws through the remains of the alpha's throat, granting him a quicker death.

Ennis's body falls to the floor and doesn't move again. Silence reigns in the locker room as Derek turns around to face Jennifer. Blood is still dribbling down his chin as he extends one hand to her, palm up, just as he had so many weeks ago. Jennifer takes his hand and squeezes it, biting her lip while her heart pounds inside her chest.

“Holy shit!” The silence is broken by Scott McCall, standing between the rows of lockers with his pack behind him. They're staring in awe and horror at the carnage in front of them.

“Derek,” Cora wheezes from the floor as she rubs her throat where Ennis had gripped her, “I swear to god if you don't marry her, _I will_!”

  
  


It takes all of them working the rest of the dance to clean up the locker room. Allison and Lydia raid the nurse's office to get enough peroxide to break up any blood stains when Boyd points them out. Jennifer receives some appraising looks from the teens, but all attempts to ask questions end when Cora tells them to 'use your noses, it's not _that_ difficult to figure out'. Jennifer spends most of the cleanup time patching Isaac's wounds with an emergency kit she's taken to keeping in her car. As she tends to the betas wounds, her hands shake from adrenaline, but otherwise she's fine. Every so often one of the wolves stop by to leech pain from the boy, helping him heal enough to safely move him to Derek's car when they're done with the cleanup.

The state of Isaac's wounds means he isn't fit to get in to their current hideout, so Derek's pack end up spending the night on Jennifer's pull out couch, curled around the injured beta. It's only when she is crawling in to bed next to Derek that she realizes how calm she is. She isn't shaking or panicking, she doesn't feel sick despite the events that transpired only hours ago. She wonders for a moment if a lack of panic makes her a bad person before rejecting the idea. She saved lives, she kept it together in a high stress situation and kept people safe. She kept her pack safe. Her therapist would probably be proud of the emotional progress she's made. Jennifer bites her lip to keep from smiling at the mental image of her therapist's face if she ever told him about the events of the past few weeks.

“What's so funny?” Derek whispers, spooning up behind her.

“Well Doctor Vantauch,” Jennifer says in a parody of her own voice, “I really feel I've made a lot of progress lately. Who knew facing off against werewolves would be so good for my mental and emotional health!” She busts into a fit of giggling. Behind her she can feel Derek shaking with silent laughter. He wraps his arms around her and presses a kiss behind her ear in the dark room. They drift off to sleep like that, tangled together with smiles on their faces.

In the morning Jennifer and Derek are jolted out of their sleep by a strangled yell. Apparently Kaboodle had taken a liking to Boyd and decided the best way to show affection was to attack the ticklish undersides of his feet. Breakfast is an awkward affair until Isaac asks about the softball trophies Jennifer has in the living room. She tells them about playing, about her team, and about one particular game where she'd broken a local batting record and was approached after the game by a tall, dark haired man with expressive eyebrows and a dry sense of humor.

Jennifer spends most of Saturday morning getting to know Isaac, Boyd and Cora. She tells some stories from college, explains some of the photos hanging in her apartment. She tells them about the creepy assistant coach stink bomb incident, and Boyd realizes where the plan for macing the alphas had come from, starts asking questions about how they rigged the heat sources and sound systems. She talks to Isaac about her softball scholarship, the grade requirements, and the different options available to students who need financial assistance, making a mental note to talk to Derek about the betas and their options for college. She gives Cora a USB filled with pictures of Laura and Derek after Cora corners her and warns Jennifer against hurting her brother. By the time they all leave, most of the awkwardness of finding out their English teacher is dating their alpha is gone.

On Sunday Jennifer goes grocery shopping. It feels a little surreal for her to do something so mundane after everything that had happened. As she's picking out steaks to grill for her date with Derek that night, Chris Argent approaches her. He starts to caution her against involving herself with monsters and she cuts him off.

“Mr. Argent, have you ever actually looked at the word 'werewolf'? It's made up of two different words: 'were' meaning 'man', as in 'human'; and 'wolf'. The fact that the word is arranged is such a way should be enough to tell you that they are humans first, and wolves second. And in all honesty, there's more than enough proof in your own family that you don't need fangs to be a monster, so it stands to reason that having fangs does not automatically turn a person in to one. And I would appreciate it if you'd remember that before you start casting aspersions on the members of my pack.” Jennifer waits until Argent nods and backs away from her before continuing on her way. In the juice aisle she passes Scott, he looks at her with respect and tentatively smiles at her.

That night as she sits curled into Derek's side on the couch with Kaboodle in her lap, Jennifer feels calm, she feels safe. Jennifer feels at home.

**Author's Note:**

> For the rarepair repop I'm going to try and have a fic out on every Friday, and a drabble or two on Saturdays if I can manage. If anyone has a drabble prompt, feel free to put it in my askbox!
> 
> Come find me on [Tumblr](http://mnemmy.tumblr.com/)!


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